BOX SCORE (PDF)

MARYVILLE, Missouri - The No. 2-ranked Northwest Missouri State Bearcats scored their 14th straight victory over Missouri Western in the series between the two schools, 65-56.

Sophomore Trevor Hudgins tallied a career-high 31 points and was the only Bearcat in double figures. Hudgins also become the 25th Bearcat to reach 1,000 career points in the contest.

Northwest improved to 16-1 overall and 6-1 in the MIAA. Missouri Western fell to 7-11 overall and 3-4 in league play.

The visiting Griffons built a 9-4 lead less than four minutes into the contest to gain the Bearcats's attention. Northwest responded with a 9-0 run to give the Bearcats a 13-9 advantage with 11:06 left in the first half. A 10-2 spurt from the Griffons allowed them to retake a 19-15 lead with 6:56 on the clock.

Hudgins found a rhythm and buried his next four three-point attempts that allowed Northwest to take a 29-21 lead with 1:43 before intermission. Northwest would take a 31-25 lead at the break with Hudgins scoring 21 of his team's points. Hudgins went 7-of-11 shooting in the opening 20 minutes and sank five of his six three-point attempts. The rest of the Bearcats shot 4-for-19 in the opening 20 minutes.

Hudgins opened the second half with a shot-clock buzzer-beating deep triple for his sixth three-pointer of the game. But the Griffons refuse to yield and pulled to within a single digit at 38-37 with 16:13 left in the game. Back-to-back buckets from Ryan Hawkins and Diego Bernard gave Northwest a 42-37 lead at the first media timeout in the second stanza. A 6-0 Bearcat run capped by a Luke Waters three-point put Northwest on top by double-figures at 48-38 with 12:10 to play. The Griffons would get no closer than seven points the rest of the way.

Northwest will remain home this week with matchups on Thursday vs. Nebraska-Kearney and Saturday vs. Fort Hays State.

NOTES: Northwest won its 26th straight home game, which ranks as the second-longest active streak in NCAA Division II ... Northwest is 9-0 at home this season ... the Bearcats are 118-9 at home since the start of the 2011-12 season ... Northwest is 116-6 in all games over the last four seasons ... it's the first time since March 5, 2017, that Northwest had only one player reach double-figures in scoring.